Yeah, that's fairly standard. Another trick is to boil it in the sieve and just lift the pasta out of the water. Even simpler: don't boil water or bother with

Yeah, that's fairly standard. Another trick is to boil it in the sieve and just lift the pasta out of the water. Even simpler: don't boil water or bother with a sieve for a single serving. Just place pasta in a cup, add hot water to just barely cover it and place the serving plate over it. After 15 minutes, invert the cup and serving plate as a "sieve." It's possible to get FrenchGuyCooking-approved consistency without wasting energy boiling gallons of water that will be washed down the drain.